The 18-year-old was born and raised in Belgium until the age of 16, but
can also play for Albania, Turkey and Serbia through heritage and would
be eligible to play for England by 2018 through residency.

Speaking ahead of Friday's crucial World Cup qualifier against
Montenegro, Wilshere urged the Football Association not to follow the
same path as the England cricket team, which features several South
African-born players.

"For me, if you are English, you are English and you play for England," Wilshere said.

"The only people who should play for England are English people.

"If you live in England for five years, it doesn't make you English. You shouldn't play.

"It doesn't mean you can play for a country. If I went to Spain and
lived there for five years, I am not going to play for Spain.

"We have to remember what we are. We are English and we tackle hard and
we are tough on the pitch and we are hard to beat. We have great
characters.

"You think of Spain and you think technical football, but you think of
England and you think they are brave and they tackle hard and we have to
remember that."

Former England star John Barnes, who was born in Jamaica but played 79
times for England, understandably disagrees with Wilshere's views.

"In 1983, when I played for England, Jamaica never had a chance of
qualifying for the World Cup - they weren't that interested in football
yet," Barnes said.

"I don't know about Albania or Kosovo, but it's a question of if he was French, would he choose England over France?

"But if he decides he (Januzaj) wants to play for England, then I don't see why not."

But Wilshere, 21, also believes it's preferable to have an England-born
manager coaching the national team but concedes he is indebted to
former England boss Fabio Capello.

"I think it’s better if there is an Englishman, but don't get me wrong, Capello did a lot for my England career," he said.

"He gave me my debut and stuck with me from a young age so he was a good manager."